back to book details
buy the book

SECRETS & GHOST HORSES
a Low Country Mystery

Chapter 1
Going Home

Hannah huddled in one corner of the back seat, her arms folded across her chest. The angry glare on her face was a mirror image of the one on the face of her twin sister, Aislinn, in the other corner. Their matching glares focused on the back of their dad's head with enough force to burn holes in his skull. He just kept driving like he didn't notice. And what's the deal with the whistling? Their dad didn't whistle. That was totally unlike the dark artistic Robert Langston Hanover. One more of the weird changes that had come over him lately.
     One thing about him that hadn't changed. He never could take the silent treatment. He barked over his shoulder, "Oh, stop pouting you two. We're going to a house built and lived in for generations by your own family. Not the outer rings of Hades. Give it a chance."
     Hannah turned the full force of her patented sarcasm on her father. "Sure, Dad. A whole summer at some old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere is much more fun than a real vacation. Makes you wonder why Granddaddy sold it years ago and neither one of you has gone near it since. If it's such a great idea, why couldn't we tell Granddaddy we were going there?"
     Their mother's, "now now girls," was just an automatic response. She had no clue what any of them had said. The earphones that filled her ears with music and the mystery novel she read, occupied her mind so thoroughly she didn't have to bother with them or their dad. As usual she had an open journal beside her to jot down poetic jewels inspired by her surroundings. That took up any left-over awareness she might have had of her daughters' complaints. It was just as well. She would be on their dad's side anyway, like she always was. Bob and Paige Hanover never failed to present a united front when their daughters objected to one of their hair-brained ideas. The twins didn't stand a chance. It was the price they paid for having a father who was a well known artist and a mother who was equally famous for her poetry.
     The twins were accustomed to being dragged all over the country for art shows and poetry recitals, but this miserable trip was the worst thing their parents had come up with in all the thirteen years they had been alive and at their mercy. It was their dad's idea but their mom went along with it as usual. When he sprung it on them a month ago, she was as shocked as they were, but by the next day she was helping with the arrangements. Bob needed to rediscover a lost part of himself, she said. Whatever he had lost hadn't been such a big deal before. Aside from being a little moody and a lot weird, he was no different from any other dad as far as they could tell. Certainly no different from his own father. Nobody would ever accuse their granddaddy of being too perky. He was nice, especially on the rare occasion when he actually smiled, but definitely on the moody side.
     The weirdest thing was their dad's sudden fascination with the house he was born in. All at once, it had become a huge deal. He hadn't seen it since he was six years old. As far as they knew, their dad never gave it a thought until he started having dreams about it. Now he was obsessed, rambling on and on about the Hanover family history. To Hannah and Aislinn, the great-great-great-grandfather who built Hanover Hall was ancient history. Who cared that the Hanovers had lived in the house until their granddaddy sold it. The girls were just glad they hadn't been stuck there.
     At least not until Bob decided his daughters needed to spend some time in the family home. He scared them half to death talking about how they could explore the house and grounds. No way they wanted to wander around some creepy old house or trudge through dark scary woods.
     At first, Mom had said there was nothing to worry about. Dad didn't even know who owned the place anymore, and whoever did own it, probably lived in it themselves. They crossed their fingers and hoped Mom was right. But Dad quickly learned that granddaddy had sold it to his good friend and neighbor, who had left it to his son. The son was more than willing, in fact anxious to lease it to them for the summer.
     Begging Mom to allow them to spend the summer with Magenta didn't work. The girls hadn't really expected it to. As usual she just snapped, "Don't call your grandmother Magenta. That's not her name." As far as they were concerned, Magenta was the best grandmother in the world but their parents acted like she was some sort of axe murderer. Mom sealed their doom by calling summer in the Low Country a "learning experience." You can't fight it when your parents decide something is educational. There were times when they enjoyed going along with their dad on his projects, but this wasn't one of those times. The more he talked about Hanover Hall, the more it sounded like the most boring place on earth. Who needed woods, creeks, fields and wide open spaces? They preferred friends, movies, boys and their own swimming pool. Aislinn even had a boy friend, sort of.
     He didn't know it yet, and now he probably never would.
     Hannah was thirsty. "Dad, can we stop someplace and get a soda? I'm gonna die of thirst if we don't"
     Me too," Aislinn said. "And a hamburger and some fries. I'm starving to death."
     Their mom heard them this time, unfortunately. "No more sodas and hamburgers and French fries," she said. "You two are going to learn to eat healthy foods this summer. You'll find some yogurt snacks and carrot juice in the cooler. That will hold you till we get to Hanover Hall where we can make some nice steamed veggies."
     "Eeeyouuu." Both girls gagged as loud as they could.
     "We'll be dead within a week," Aislinn said. "I bet she didn't bring any real food at all."
     "And there's probably not a store or restaurant within miles of the old house,"
Hannah shouted. "Daddy please!"
     "Hang on little pooters," their dad said. "We'll be there in twenty-five or thirty minutes. Drink your carrot juice like Mom said."
     "Mama. Make him stop calling us that," they both whined, then settled back in their corners, glaring at their parents, who totally ignored them and kept crooning oohs and ahs about the "lovely countryside." Mom couldn't get over how romantic it all was. Could this possibly get any worse?
     A huge black mosquito flew in the open window and was already slurping blood from a bite it took out of Aislinn's leg before it was even noticed. Hannah swatted the giant bloodsucker and dropped his body into the front seat. Meet one of the neighbors," she said.
     They had never seen a dirt road before, until they turned onto one for the last leg of the journey. The wheels stirred up great clouds of red dust that poured through the windows and provoked fits of loud coughing and gagging from the twins. Bob and Paige ignored them but at least the dust forced them to raise the windows and stop insisting that their daughters breathe the lovely fresh air. They were safe from enormous blood sucking insects, and maybe they wouldn't choke to death on the "lovely fresh air.
     A great hulking wreck of a house appeared out of the dust, looking like a resort for demons with bad taste. When Bob pulled the car over and parked on the side of the road, they groaned at the thought of spending the summer there. He got out with his camera and began to snap photos. The girls held their breath, hoping he was only getting snapshots to use for one of his paintings. Paige looked as relieved as they were when he got back in the car and drove away, grumbling about what a shame such a grand old house was allowed to sink into decay.
     It wasn't long before they were wishing the first house had been the one. The house their dad remembered as an elegant white columned beauty, didn't look anything like he described it.
     But then, things can change a lot in thirty-four years. The house looked like it hadn't been painted once in all that time.
     Shutters hung from the windows on rusted hinges. The yard was a mass of tangled weeds and briars, and when they parked, Aislinn thought sure she saw something slither away toward the house. Both twins were too shocked to complain. Even Bob looked like he couldn't believe it. "The owner said it needed some sprucing up, but I didn't think it would be this bad," he said.
     "Oh good Lord," Page gasped.
     "Can we go now?" both girls shouted.
     Mom must have remembered that she was supposed to try to be supportive of her husband. She forced a smile. "Let's see what the inside is like, dear." The twins were slightly relieved when she added, "If it's as bad as the outside, we're going to the nearest motel for the night."
     Aislinn whispered a triumphant, "Yes!" to her sister. "Even Paige the poet can't see anything romantic about this wreck."
     This was the opening they had hoped for. "Please Mom," Hannah pleaded. "About a thousand miles back down the dust road, there was a motel. Can we? Can we please? There was a swimming pool."
     "Wait in the car while we check inside," Bob said. He looked devastated.
     They managed not to show how thrilled they were that the house was unfit for human habitation. No need to make him feel any worse by gloating. If the inside was bad enough, and of course it was, they might be spared a miserable summer. The nightmare would end and by tomorrow they could be on the way back to Atlanta and their relatively normal life.
     Their parents were gone a long time, and the car was rapidly turning into an oven. It looked cooler under the big oaks, even if the trees did have some weird grey-green mossy stuff hanging all over them. They got out of the car and wandered down what turned out to be a stone path between the weeds. The giant oaks cast eerie shadows on the path.
     "What's that over there?" Hannah pointed at a splash of bright red through the leaves. Since it was the only interesting thing they had seen all day, they hurried to find out what it was.
     It didn't surprise them to find a barn at the end of the path. After all, they were on a farm, and farms have barns. But this one didn't fit in at all. While everything else on the place was totally decrepit, the red paint on the barn looked new. The barn and the grounds around it were well tended, as if still in daily use. Double doors, wide enough to drive a truck through, were wide open.
     From inside, came the whickering of a horse.
     It was cool in the barn. The air smelled of hay and horses. The whickering came again. When their eyes adjusted to the dimness they followed the sound down a row of stalls. Inside one of the stalls, a beautiful brown horse munched on a mound of hay. He tossed his black mane at them when they approached.
They didn't notice the other horse until she whinnied at them from the stall next door. Her coat was shiny brown and her mane glossy black, exactly like the first horse.
     "Cool." both twins said as they gawked at the horses.
     Hannah said, "Maybe Daddy did something right for a change. Why didn't he tell us we would have horses?"
     "Dad's idea of a surprise, maybe?" Aislinn said.
     "I hope he plans to give us riding lessons too," Hannah said. "We don't even know how to get onto one of these things."
     It could have been the dim light in the barn, or the fact that they were so excited about the horses, but they didn't see the boy until he spoke.
     "Who are you?" he asked. Obviously he wasn't expecting them. The look on his face made them wonder if one of them had suddenly sprouted a second head.
     "Didn't mean to startle you," Hannah said.
     "Yeah," Aislinn said. "We were just looking around. "I'm Aislinn Hanover and she's my sister, Hannah."
     The boy nodded, still looking like he wasn't sure he believed they were real. "Hi Aislinn and Hannah."
     "And who are you, and what are you doing at our dad's barn? Do you work here?" Aislinn asked.
     He reached up to stroke the horse's chest. They thought he wasn't going to answer at all, then he said softly, "My name is Donovan. I take care of the horses." He turned and walked away as if they weren't even there.
    He went back to the stall, opened the gate and led the horse out and began brushing her with a big flat brush, still ignoring them. They watched, enjoying the view when he bent over to brush the fetlocks. Too bad all guys didn't wear tight, low slung jeans. Too bad all guys didn't look this good in them. He was different from the boys they knew. Who knew a farm boy could be this gorgeous? His long dark hair hung almost to his shoulders. He wore jeans that flared at the ankles and a tight fitting tee-shirt with swirls of rainbow color, like the clothes their dad wore in old pictures from when he was a kid. Dad called it tie-dyed. They noticed Donovan even talked different when he crooned to the horse, calling her "one groovy little filly." He wasn't aware of their presence anymore, like he was in a different world.
     Hannah stepped up and stroked the horse's flank. "She's a beauty," she said. "I always wished I had a horse."
     Donovan didn't say a word for a minute or so, just kept brushing, then asked softly, "Why are you here?"
     Aislinn said, "Our dad is forcing us to stay in that old house because he's an artist and he's painting stuff around here. His family lived here since the stone-age but he and our granddaddy sold it and moved away when he was a kid. Our mom is a poet looking for inspiration, so we're stuck here for the whole summer, if there are still floors and walls in there."
     Donovan stopped brushing the horse and looked into Aislinn's eyes. "No, that's not what I mean," he said. "Why are you here in the barn? Talking to me and Skeeter and Sally?" His eyes were so dark, and the way he looked at her made her tingle all over. She couldn't look away to save her life.
     Since Aislinn was speechless, Hannah tried to answer. "Just-just, I don't know. Just being polite maybe. Do you want us to go away?"
     When Donovan turned his gaze on Hannah, Aislinn spun around and headed for the car. He might be gorgeous but he was just too strange to deal with. She hadn't gone three steps when his voice stopped her dead in her tracks.
     "Please don't go, Aislinn. It's just that it's been a long time since anybody has talked to me. I didn't think you would see me, but I'm glad you did."
     That was the sweetest, saddest thing they had ever heard. They didn't have a clue what it meant but Hannah and Aislinn were transfixed. How could they possibly leave now? They had to know more about this boy.
     Hannah knew it sounded lame when she asked, "Do you live nearby, Donovan."
     He hesitated, like he didn't know how to answer. "Well, yes and no. Sometimes it seems my home is very far away."
     Gorgeous and mysterious. This just kept getting better and better. They had to know what he meant by that.
     As usual their parents had the worst possible timing. They were yelling at the top of their lungs, ordering them to come immediately. Maybe Mom and Dad were in a hurry to start looking for a hotel, which was exactly what they wanted to do. Not even a cute boy could make them want to stay a single night in the pile of rubble that used to be their dad's house.
     "Gotta go," Hannah said. "That's our parents bellowing for us."
     Aislinn called over her shoulder as she ran, "If we're lucky, we'll be leaving and not coming back. Nice to meet ya, Donovan"
     "And Skeeter and Sally too," Hannah called.

     Their dad stood on the front porch, beaming. "Good news, little pooters," he said. The inside is just like I remembered, in fact, even better. We're not going anywhere. Not this summer. We're staying right here."
     "No way," Aislinn said. She followed Hannah inside, hoping her dad was joking. Why would he be so excited about being here anyway? They place was so bad that neither he nor their granddaddy ever said a word about it before, and apparently their granddaddy hated it so much he would spaz if he knew they were here.
     They ran inside and looked around. Sure enough, somebody had spent a lot of time sprucing up the old place. It was as clean as a pin. Lacy curtains fluttered at the open windows. A big leather sofa and two butter-soft leather chairs looked very inviting in the living room. The rest of the furniture seemed to be new, probably just delivered. Polished wood floors gleamed at the edges of thick, luxurious rugs.
     A black cloud of disappointment settled over them. A quick examination of the corners and ceilings didn't reveal a single cobweb. Their last hope, that the place would be infested with enough spiders to spook their mom into leaving, was dashed.
     "There's a sun-room in back already set up as a studio for my work," Bob gushed. "It couldn't be more perfect."
     "And take a look at your room girls," Paige said. "You're gonna love it. It's all done in Laura Ashley florals, and it's just the sweetest thing you've ever seen."
     They dragged themselves up the broad spiral staircase, groaning like they were climbing a scaffold to the gallows, and crept into the sweetest room ever. When they saw where they would be spending the summer, only a total state of shock kept them from lapsing into screaming fits.
     "Whoever decorated this little fairy garden had a mean streak a mile wide," Hannah whimpered.
     Aislinn shuddered with disgust. Everywhere she looked, there were flowers. The wallpaper was covered with them, the bed spreads, the rug, two dainty little chairs that sat at two dainty little dressing tables. All flowers. Anything that wasn't covered with flowers was ruffled and topped with lace. Yards and yards of flowery, ruffled, lacy fabric, dripping from every piece of furniture, and all in shades of pink.
     "Hannah," Aislinn groaned, "I don't think I can stand it."
     "It's soooo romantic, Ace. And just take a whiff of all that lovely fresh air." Hannah waved a hand to indicate the opened windows. "Some of it is actually getting through the layers of lace and roses.
     Aislinn fell down on the nearest pink and lace twin bed, her arms thrown over her face. "We can't get a break. We're going to be stuck here all summer, in this disgusting room in the most boring place on the face of the earth. What are we going to do?"
     Hannah dropped face down in the matching bed. The pink lacy stuff muffled her voice. "I'm trying to think of something . . . Anything. Just one good thing about this place that will keep me from going totally insane and nothing comes to mind. Help me Ace. Think of something that makes this less of a nightmare."
     Aislinn moaned. "All I can think of is that it can't last forever. Summer will end one day, and we can go back to school. Back to tests, homework, and sitting in boring classes all day. Oh, Hannah. I never dreamed life could be so bad that I'd look forward to school."
     Hannah turned over and sat up. "The horses. They're the coolest thing we've ever had. I might even be able to stand this godforsaken place with a horse. I knew Daddy wouldn't just dump us here without something to keep us sane. We've gotta tell him we love Skeeter and Sally."
     Aislinn jumped to her feet. "Of course he wouldn't stick us here with nothing but woods and swamps. Let's go back to the barn. Maybe that weird boy is still there."
     Hannah raced her for the stairs yelling as she ran, "Maybe we could just sleep in the barn with Skeeter and Sally. It would have to be better than this rosy room."
     They almost collided with their parents at the landing, lugging in arm loads of supplies. When they both lunged at him with the biggest hug he'd had since he started obsessing about Hanover Hall, Bob dropped the grocery bag he carried, spilling broccoli, cauliflower and cabbages all over the floor.
     "Daddy, the horses," was all he could make out with both of them talking at once.
     "Whoa, girls," he said. "Just because this is a farm, doesn't mean we're gonna have horses. I mean, where would they live, and who would take care of them, and what would we do with them once summer is over? Nope. Sorry little pooters. No horses."
     "Daddy, the horses at the barn." Hannah said. "Duh"
     "Did I tell you about the barn, and the horses?" Bob asked. "I don't remember mentioning it. I learned a little of the house's history from the Whitneys when I leased the place from them. Great-Great-Great-Granddad's old barn burned down sometime after old Mr. Whitney bought the house from your granddaddy. I understand he had horses at the time. He leased the place to a bunch of hippies who helped take care of them."
     "When did they build the new barn?" Aislinn asked.
     "They didn't. Nobody has lived in the house since the neighbors practically ran the hippies out of town. Folks didn't like the idea of a commune in the community. I don't know why the Whitneys even kept the place, but it's a good thing they did."
     Bob gathered up the last of the veggies and headed for the kitchen without bothering to explain what a commune was, or why the neighbors didn't like it.
     Hannah and Aislinn stood looking at each other for at least a full minute, not sure what to do, then both at the same time decided to race out the door, down the stone path, and back to the barn.
     Aislinn stopped at the curve in the path where they had first seen the flash of red through the leaves. Maybe the light was different, because she didn't see it anymore.
     They weren't running now, just walking very slowly down the path under the great dark trees, trying not to think of the strange mossy veils that hung from the branches.
     Around the last bend in the path where the barn should have appeared, they stopped, not sure what to think. About half an hour ago a bright red barn stood at the end of the path. Now there were only weeds and debris.
     "Hello," they called. "Hello, Donovan."
     No answer.
     The setting sun dimmed above the treetops. It cast an eerie light on the tangle of weeds that had been a neat barnyard less than an hour ago.
     The twins didn't often walk around holding hands, but they found themselves clinging tightly to each other as they edged closer to the place their great grandfather's barn had been. The only thing they found that hinted at its existence was a low, crumbling stone wall. Some of the rocks still showed signs that at some time in the past; they had been in a very hot fire.
     "Donovan," Aislinn called again, almost in a whisper, not sure she wanted him to answer.
     It might have been the wind in the moss covered trees, but they thought they heard, faint and faraway, the whickering of a horse.

copyright © 2005 Holly McClure

To purchase SECRETS & GHOST HORSES
from your local independent bookseller click here:

Purchase at amazon.com

Purchase at barnes&noble.com

Purchase at booksamillion.com:

Or you may order a copy of SECRETS & GHOST HORSES, direct from BellaRosaBooks using PAYPAL.
$10.00 Includes shipping & handling worldwide.
Click the button below to place your order.

Or contact us at sales@bellarosabooks.com .

BOOKSELLERS:
All Bella Rosa Book titles are available through
Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Brodart Company, Book Wholesalers, Inc. (BWI),
The Book House, Inc., and Parnassus distributors.

Booksellers, Schools, and Libraries can also purchase
direct from Bella Rosa Books.
For quantity discounts contact sales@bellarosabooks.com .